Your home is your Nutritional Sanctuary~

Back to the “Abs are made in the Grocery store” post I made yesterday… I have to reiterate that this is where the real decisions are made. If it’s not in your cart, it won’t come into your home. With no immediate source for temptation, you create an environment for success. If you buy the junk food, despite your best efforts they remain a constant temptation: you will know it’s in the house.

If it’s your known trigger food, why even worry about trying to avoid it? Don’t buy it in the first place! A “Trigger Food” is something not supporting your fitness/ weight loss goals, something you can rarely resist when provided the easy offer or access. Often when you eat it you may eat far too much of it, thus creating very negative feelings towards the self, and backtracking on days of effort. No bueno. Maybe you need to define your trigger foods, if any. That’s a good step in itself.

The world outside your home has treats of all kinds around every corner~ make your home your sanctuary, keep your food clean and in our best interests in your pantry, fridge and freezer. Breaking on your clean eating lifestyle in your own home should be a rare and planned occasion (your birthday let’s say). If you are dieting, making a life change, no matter the extreme or small step, you home has to be set up for support!

Easier said than done, right? I know your next argument will be, “I don’t WANT to buy it, BUT my ____ will throw a fit without it”, or “it’s what THEY’RE used to”. Insert husband, wife, parents, or especially kids into the blank, and things get dicey. My response to that is, that change often has to come from YOU, or things will never be guided towards the positive. This often begins with a sit down and family meeting, starting with “I have a new goal, and I would love your help.” And “Things are going to change.” As the parent this is your right to make decisions and responsibility to lead by example (don’t come down on me bc I’m not a mom y’all ). After that, you stick to your resolve and follow through.

If you can’t eliminate genuine junk food completely with your family, LET THE NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN! Find out what they like that you DON’T like, this way they’re not deprived and you’re not tempted! Working within a family is never easy, but something has to be tried. If you are the only one of a large family working towards weight loss, or a single parent, this can be exceptionally difficult, but absolutely can be done. First we decide, then we find a way, and find help

When setting up your home for nutritional success, heads up!!! You may have to STRIP YOUR PANTRY, fridge, drawers, cabinets and freezer. And yes, even that hiding spot you have in your desk drawer or on top of the shelves This literally means getting rid of the old halloween candy, 3 tubs of half eaten ice cream, stale potato chips, and unopened boxes of crackers brownies etc. I get a lot of kickback on this, because no one likes to throw away food. I’ll have folks say” I’m just going through what’s left then I’ll never buy it again” *NO!!* This is another pitfall! You’re practically pre-sabotaging yourself by consuming all the foods you’ll be avoiding in the future, making the weight loss kickstart more like a pre-diet weight gain! In this instance I recommend deciding what is legitimate garbage (the opened ice cream and potato chips), then donating as much of it as you can to a food bank, like any unopened box mix. The positive? Once you get over the emotional hurdle of parting with your treats, You will see yourself throwing away a LOT of processed food, thousands of calories and chemicals. You are doing yourself and family a huge favor, this is what it’s all about. You can do this!!!!

Replace these things with the new “It” crowd~ things like oats, brown rice, whole wheat pastas, sweet potato, fruit and vegies of all colours and kinds, (frozen vej and canned beans for speedy simple meals), chicken breast, eye of round, whitefish, eggs and egg whites, almonds and natural peanut butter, refined coconut oil for cooking. Here’s your shopping list! A week or two spent getting creative, learning what you like, learning how to combine them into healthy meals, and you’re golden.
Shop small and often, as these living things need to be eaten within a couple days. Acclimate to their new shelf life and eat it up!